James Francis McBirney (1867-1957),
Warren
Clarence McBirney (1898-1948)
Sarah Dalley McBirney (1876-1958),
James
Francis McBirney Jr.(1891-??),
Mabel Frances McBirney (1895-1947)
Earl Carter McBirney (1897-1977),
Francis
McBirney (1905-1995),
Ada McBirney
(1903-1958)
James Francis McBirney was born in Clare townland of Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland on October 17, 1867, the son of James McBirney and Ellen Carter. His family moved to Belfast sometime in the 1880's, and James emigrated to the U.S. before 1895. (see below for a note on this).He was the fourth child of ten.
Sarah Dalley McBirney was born in Somerville, New Jersey. We presently don't know when or where she and James Francis McBirney met or the date and place of their marraige.
Son James Francis McBirney Jr. was the son of a first marriage and was born in Ireland. Young James immigrated to the U.S. in 1908 at age 17, and the ship manifest indicates he was coming from his grandparents in Belfast to join his father in Hartford. The rest of the children were born in Staten Island, New York. The family was living in Hartford in 1908 but had moved to New Haven, Connecticut by 1916, where James Sr. worked at Winchester Repeating Arms. James and Sarah lived at the same Whalley Ave. address for the rest of their lives.
James and Sarah are buried in the Centerville Cemetery in Hamden, CT. in an unmarked plot. I've not yet found out why there are no headstones. We don't know if it was their wish, or finances at the time, or it just slipped by. Son Warren (1898-1948), Warren's wife Florence M Stahnke McBirney (1909-1989) , and granddaughter June Eileen McBirney Thomas (1926-1982) are buried nearby.
Notes from James Francis McBirney's obituary published in the New Haven Register: "He was a pioneer and inventor in the typewriter industry. He was an executive with the Underwood Typewriter Company and was also production supervisor of the Royal Typewriter Company. ..... Mr. McBirney supervised production and assembly of guns at the Winchester Repeating Arms Company during World War I."
Note on his immigration: in 1937, James related his life story to his young granddaughter Virginia (daughter of Earl Carter McBirney), and stated that he came to the U.S. in 1901. However, we know his oldest daughter Mabel was born in Staten Island, N.Y. in 1895.